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Twin blasts kill 33 in Peshawar, Pakistan

Many of the victims had been taken to Lady Reading Hospital in PeshawarIslamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months

Twin blasts in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar have killed 33 people and injured 70, a week after bombings at a church there killed scores.

Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban.

The blasts outside a police station hit an area known as Quiswakhani, or the storytellers' bazaar, crowded with shoppers.

Police said they thought at least one of the explosions in the city close to the Afghan border had been caused by a car bomb.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned the attack.

Two policemen tried to hold back the crowd gathered outside the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where many of the victims had been taken.

Nine members of one family were among the dead.

The blasts follow an attack by a Taliban faction on Peshawar's Anglican church last Sunday that killed more than 80 people, the deadliest assault on Christians in predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

The Taliban have repeatedly rejected Pakistan's constitution and have called for the full implementation of Islamic law and for war with India.

Mr Sharif was due to meet Indian counterpart Man mohan Singh on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly later today, only hours after Singh described Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism in our region".